alexf

Dare I say there was a moment where I thought he's in danger of becoming abit too predictable with that whipped ball across he tries regularly. If defenders were wise to it. However it's such a dangerous tactic that it's almost unstoppable when done right. But as long as he varies it up occasionally and tries over things to keep the opponent guessing. Thought he and Gordon were our best players, especially first half when everyone else just looked a little off it.

Play like we did against Wolves at many moments and I think we'd lose this. Bournemouth are a strong dangerous outfit this year, add in the hold they seem to have over Howe in this fixture as well and it could be tricky. Need the the boys to be a little sharper than they were last night as felt we rode our luck a fair bit. Hopefully fatigue for us doesn't play a factor either, very quick turnaround and one less day to prepare than they had. Our bench is looking weak for attacking options. Let's hope the lads find their best form again and turnover another team who are trying to keep up with us.

Because it's a turkish team I am just assuming they will want him on loan rather than paying any decent money.

He's hardly an injury prone player. Got a bad freak injury last year that kept him out for a long time and now a slight muscle pull that can happen to any player especially when they haven't been playing many games from the start. Been some weird takes in this thread. Harvey is one of our better players and probably closest to the first 11 out of all the other subs really especially in terms of being a first option from the bench.

All set up now for him to have a shocker against Wolves and calls for Pope to come straight back in when fit.

We can enjoy our own players without needing to shit on others. Rice is a good player.

They have a few decent players. Cunha for example is the antithesis to our defenders with his running power. But if we don't over commit and control the midfield we "should" have far too much for them overall.

Always felt in these sort of cup games against lower league opposition he looks really poor, in a sense that it looks like his level. But then surround him with good players and against better opposition and he looks serviceable. In contrast, you put on people like Gordon, Bruno and Hall and you could see they were levels above the opponent.

Nowadays? When have they not? always been like that in my lifetime anyways.

To be fair I think he's wanted out for awhile but got persuaded to stay last season. Plus think he flirted with retirement from england also and got convinced to stay on there aswell. But certainly seems to have fallen off a cliff this year. Never rated him as a defender really anyway, from a reading the game perspective. He just had cheat code pace to get himself out of trouble but always been an average player if you get what I mean.

Yeah don't do it to yourself. He's not been able to put a consistent run together since 22/23. Also since then his levels have dropped quite noticeably when he did play and Isak's have gone up. So I'd say probably Villa have the best 2 now for strength in depth. But irrelevant really because by the time Wilson got chance to put any form and sharpness down he'll be injured again unfortunately.

I think Schar is still automatic RCB. But I think Botman has proven he can cover on that side when needed. But I think Botman will go back to being phased back in now and be a rotation option. If Burn wasn't playing so well then he'd be straight back in as starting LCB I'd have thought. Nice to have options again finally.

Was it Darlow he replaced? Remember that game and it being night and day in terms of quality. He caught everything and communicated with the back 4 etc. was a great signing at the time.

They got Kai Havertz as 130, Hoijlund as 111 and Martinelli, Nunez and Garnacho all above him. Plus it's in euros so they actually value Isak at £80m. Yeah. Next.

Reverse fixture is gonna be tasty. Seems to be a brewing rivalry especially as we've beaten them 3 in a row now. Could be very important 6 pointer for Europe qualification also.

Hasn't he not long returned from a broken leg? Poor guy. Wonder if it's the same leg, perhaps there is a weakness in there. Remember was it Dybril Cissé who broke his leg like 3 times in his career or something?

Tell you what with Dyche. He's from the Steve Bruce school of negativity. Yes he probably just about keeps them up as he has done last few years....but...it's easy for him and same with Bruce with us when they were here to pull the whole "deal the hand your dealt" and woe is me mentality to the media etc and that there is no alternative to negative, survival football. But there is. Yes there is an element of risk to it, but look at the tune Howe has managed to get out of so many of the Bruce legacy players. Yes we signed players and kicked on to be a champions league challenging team. But I have no doubt that even without big investment, However would have had that Bruce squad comfortably mid table.

First thing I thought, Botman was good but think Burn was the standout performer in our backline.

Not a bad shout.

Was probably more the player pushing for the move then if he was perhaps on for a good final contract. However I don't see the harm in him hanging on then for end of season when he can still go but likely get a signing on fee aswell.

To be expected, he can have little complaints as they have been so anti football. However unless they have someone coming in, might be abit of a risk. As shit as he is, they were probably never going down under him.

This guy loves himself way too much.

Yeah he's clearly fucked up and trying to cover arse but doing it badly as none of that makes any sense in relation to what he was saying. Because our goal was given on the pitch so nothing he said there relates to that incident.

There's a difference between fans of clubs feeling hard done by and the manager going on every media interview and suggesting corruption by match officials. The explanation is clear as is the rule. You can disagree with the rule and feel unlucky you didn't get a decision but it doesn't make the officials any less correct in the enforcement of those rules. To then act all clued up about the rules and know all the ins and outs when a decision goes your way in the very next game is hilarious and makes you look a twat.

perfect